Mumbai, April 11 (Inditop) A question mark hangs over the candidature of senior Shiv Sena leader Gajanan Kirtikar for the Lok Sabha poll from Mumbai North-West constituency after he reportedly committed errors while filing his nomination, a party source said.
According to the source, Kirtikar, a minister in the former Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state, is said to have committed at least five serious blunders, including forgetting to sign the form.
Kirtikar’s rival candidates from the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) have demanded his papers be rejected.
“We have taken strong objection to this. Incomplete or erroneous forms are rejected in municipal elections; here we are talking of the country’s parliament,” said Congress’ Gurudas Kamat, who is contesting from the same constituency.
SP state chief and candidate from the same constituency Abu Asim Azmi expressed the hope that the returning officer would reject the nomination and not “succumb to pressures”.
An official of the Mumbai suburban district collectorate told IANS that additional collector Ashwini Joshi, who is the returning officer, has convened a meeting of top officials to discuss the matter.
Another important candidate from the constituency is Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS)’s Shalini Thackeray, the first-ever daughter-in-law of the Thackeray family to step into electoral politics.
Shiv Sena leaders were not available for comment while its ally, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders claimed ignorance of the issue.
rounak